Thanks for reading this week! Much of the content for this article was made possible by the discussions on this board! I also deviate from the traditional pick-a-pack this week and present a more complex draft scenario from my IRL draft this week.
Thanks for reading this week! Much of the content for this article was made possible by the discussions on this board! I also deviate from the traditional pick-a-pack this week and present a more complex draft scenario from my IRL draft this week.
We take a more liberal definition of "un" cards so in terms of raw power I'd say its
Contract from Below
Chaos Orb
Coldsnap + Snow lands
Symbol Status
Topsy Turvy -- but it gets old pretty quickly
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Necro-Impotence -- we didn't play with this card very much but it reads: Untap, draw your deck. Got to be beastly in some kind of combo shell.
Magical Hacker -- not sure where to put it. The only interaction thats good enough is with Planeswalkers but its bonkers when that happens.
(big space)
Jack-in-the-mox -- worse than all of the Power mana but still pretty strong
Once More With Feeling -- not really Upheaval, its more like a better Armageddon
Gifts Given -- its strong but we were never sure if we were optimizing it or not. Its really, really controlly and I don't think it rises to Top 5 level.
Enter the Dungeon -- this is a heckuva card for any aggressive deck with black in it
the rest that you listed aren't really "power" cards they just do solid things:
Blast from the Past
W^5
Frazzled Editor
City of Ass
Booster Tutor
Rare-B-Gone and Richard Garfield seem insane on paper but didn't work out in practice for us. Rare-B-Gone is good but I think it takes more "finesse" (trouble/luck) than you're letting on.
Garfield is honestly not fun. The players that don't have a Magic encyclopedia in their head won't use him and the players that do are more likely to sap the fun out of games with him than anything else. Plus hes a five mana 2/2 that has to stick around so I don't think hes even objectively that powerful.
One card I've heard good things about is Number Crunch. We just didn't want to mess with gotchas anymore after playing Deal Damage a few times.
I used to cube Rare-B-Gone and it was irritating with old cards trying to remember what rarity they were. I also didn't think it was worth warping your daft to ensure that a single card would be effective.
I used to run Number Crunch too. It can be pretty effective but the Gotcha mechanic is just too annoying. For a "fun" set, Unhinged has a lot of unfun things going on.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I used to cube Rare-B-Gone and it was irritating with old cards trying to remember what rarity they were. I also didn't think it was worth warping your daft to ensure that a single card would be effective.
I used to run Number Crunch too. It can be pretty effective but the Gotcha mechanic is just too annoying. For a "fun" set, Unhinged has a lot of unfun things going on.
I remember really liking the idea of Rare-B-Gone before I realized that sometimes it would basically be "destroy all non basic lands". I mean, it screams out to be a one-sided Balance but I never got the deck to pull it off.
EDIT: and, yes, there are some significant rarity questions, although for us it was the argument of whether it killed Planeswalkers.
And yes, the Un-sets really aren't that fun overall IMO.
My biggest qualm with un-sets is they have all these cards that make you think outside of the realms of the game when you play and put it in a "ISN'T THIS FUN? THAT'S FUNNY RIGHT? AREN'T YOU HAVING FUN YET?" dress that ends up being awkward. Magic is fun for me as it is, not some weird amalgamation of the game that instills rules that have nothing to do with conventional gameplay. So if I flick my cards they get a card from their GY back? Uh, **** that.
That being said, there are some insanely strong Un-cards.
Rare-B-Gone is one of the most satisfying cards to build your deck around, and one I will ALWAYS one pick if I can. There's nothing quite like a one-sided pseudo-Apocalypse. The mistake people make with it is that they avoid drafting all the rares; just lean towards the non-rares when given the choice, and you will wind up with a VERY powerful card in your deck.
Rare-B-Gone is one of the most satisfying cards to build your deck around, and one I will ALWAYS one pick if I can. There's nothing quite like a one-sided pseudo-Apocalypse. The mistake people make with it is that they avoid drafting all the rares; just lean towards the non-rares when given the choice, and you will wind up with a VERY powerful card in your deck.
-AA
Its pretty awesome if they try to stabilize around turn 4 or with one card -- a rare or Planeswalker, naturally -- and you blow it up plus a land or two. But that's still fairly conditional vs just having a card that can punch through damage on its own (the red haste guys)
As was mentioned above, determining the rarity of old cards is difficult if you don't have them memorized or just forget. Plus the dumb aspect of some cards having mutliple rarities which can lead to jockeying to include different versions based on whether you want Rare-B-Gone to hit it or not. And the question of what counts as "rare" from the early sets.
The only thing interesting about Blast from the Past is that its a red burn spell that only control will really want. Its Electrolyze that can't split the damage but has flashback. Its really not a Top 10 Un-card contender in my mind.
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Thanks for reading this week! Much of the content for this article was made possible by the discussions on this board! I also deviate from the traditional pick-a-pack this week and present a more complex draft scenario from my IRL draft this week.
We take a more liberal definition of "un" cards so in terms of raw power I'd say its
Contract from Below
Chaos Orb
Coldsnap + Snow lands
Symbol Status
Topsy Turvy -- but it gets old pretty quickly
-----------
Necro-Impotence -- we didn't play with this card very much but it reads: Untap, draw your deck. Got to be beastly in some kind of combo shell.
Magical Hacker -- not sure where to put it. The only interaction thats good enough is with Planeswalkers but its bonkers when that happens.
(big space)
Jack-in-the-mox -- worse than all of the Power mana but still pretty strong
Once More With Feeling -- not really Upheaval, its more like a better Armageddon
Gifts Given -- its strong but we were never sure if we were optimizing it or not. Its really, really controlly and I don't think it rises to Top 5 level.
Enter the Dungeon -- this is a heckuva card for any aggressive deck with black in it
the rest that you listed aren't really "power" cards they just do solid things:
Blast from the Past
W^5
Frazzled Editor
City of Ass
Booster Tutor
Rare-B-Gone and Richard Garfield seem insane on paper but didn't work out in practice for us. Rare-B-Gone is good but I think it takes more "finesse" (trouble/luck) than you're letting on.
Garfield is honestly not fun. The players that don't have a Magic encyclopedia in their head won't use him and the players that do are more likely to sap the fun out of games with him than anything else. Plus hes a five mana 2/2 that has to stick around so I don't think hes even objectively that powerful.
One card I've heard good things about is Number Crunch. We just didn't want to mess with gotchas anymore after playing Deal Damage a few times.
I used to run Number Crunch too. It can be pretty effective but the Gotcha mechanic is just too annoying. For a "fun" set, Unhinged has a lot of unfun things going on.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I remember really liking the idea of Rare-B-Gone before I realized that sometimes it would basically be "destroy all non basic lands". I mean, it screams out to be a one-sided Balance but I never got the deck to pull it off.
EDIT: and, yes, there are some significant rarity questions, although for us it was the argument of whether it killed Planeswalkers.
And yes, the Un-sets really aren't that fun overall IMO.
That being said, there are some insanely strong Un-cards.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
Yup. Part of flashingback a card is exiling it.
Also, follow us on twitter! @TurnOneMagic
So it's kind of a bad play, is the point.
-AA
I use descriptive language. Assume that I'm being nice and respectful. (I'll tell you when I'm not.)
My Cube: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/9029
Its pretty awesome if they try to stabilize around turn 4 or with one card -- a rare or Planeswalker, naturally -- and you blow it up plus a land or two. But that's still fairly conditional vs just having a card that can punch through damage on its own (the red haste guys)
As was mentioned above, determining the rarity of old cards is difficult if you don't have them memorized or just forget. Plus the dumb aspect of some cards having mutliple rarities which can lead to jockeying to include different versions based on whether you want Rare-B-Gone to hit it or not. And the question of what counts as "rare" from the early sets.
The only thing interesting about Blast from the Past is that its a red burn spell that only control will really want. Its Electrolyze that can't split the damage but has flashback. Its really not a Top 10 Un-card contender in my mind.